The Summer Exhibition

‘Held without interruption since 1769, the Summer Exhibition displays works in a variety of mediums and genres by emerging and established artists ‘ Royal Academy.

This year the guest curator at the Summer Exhibition was British sculptor Richard Wilson RA. Entry to the Exhibition is open to all artists and over 1200 pictures were hung in the rooms by a panel of Royal Academians. The installation in the courtyard is a crane by artist Ron Avad .Inside there are many works by renowned duos this year such as Heather and Ivan Morrison and there is always the bizarre as in the lifesize statue of Iggy Pop. Most works are for sale and proceeds help with the funding of Royal Academy Schools.

There are a maximum of 80 Academicians and new members are only voted in when an existing member reaches the age of 75 or dies. The newly elected Academian produces a Diploma Work for the Academy , which becomes part of the Academy Collection. All new members receive a Diploma signed by the Queen.

Charles Ernst Cundall 1890- 1971 was a regular exhibitor at the RA and was elected an associate member in 1937 and a full member in 1944. He was born in Stretford, Lancashire. After working as a designer of pottery and stained glass at the Pilkingtons factory he studied at the Manchester School of art and gained a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1912 . He enlisted as a royal Fusilier in WW1 and badly injured his right arm. Before returning to College in 1918 he had to relearn to paint using his left. Afterwards he attended the Slade School of Art and then studied in Paris before travelling extensively. His first solo show was in 1927. He became a full time admiralty artist and also worked on a major painting of the Commemoration Ceremony of the Battle of Britain in 1943. King George V1 purchased two of Cundall’s works. Cundall’s best known work was The Withdrawal from Dunkirk June 1940.

Works by Charles Cundall are notably held at the Imperial War Museum and the RAF Museum and in other collections throughout Great Britain including Manchester City Art Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery.

Charles Ernest Cundall RA 1890 – 1971

Hastings Luggers

Signed

14.5″ x 22″

Oil on canvas

This is a picture from the Royal Museums Collection of a model of a Hastings lugger.

The luggers were large fishing boats, up to 55 feet long, with three masts. A crew of 8-10 men roamed the North Sea and Western English Channel searching for herring and mackeral.

As well as notable Academians such as Cundall who grow in stature through membership of the academy, many artists become successful after training at the Academy . The Scottish sisters Doris and Anna Zinkeisen attended the RA Schools in 1917.

Anna was a portraitist and she became a well known society painter. She was also well known for her equestrian portraiture and scenes of London parks as shown in her painting of Lady Caroline Lamb riding through Hyde Park.

Anna Zinkeisen studied sculpture at the RA Schools between 1916 and 1921 winning a silver and a bronze medal. She first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1919. Anna was a medical artist in WWII. Her self- portrait and her painting of plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndore are exhibited at the National Portrait gallery, London. She has also painted HRH Prince Phillip, Sir Alexander Fleming and Lord Beaverbrooke.

This is one of her delightful paintings of spring flowers.

Former RA Schools illustrious students include JMW Turner and John Everett Millais. Each year the RA Schools accepts no more than 17 new students and there is an annual exhibition of their works.